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Risperidone (Belivon, Rispen, Risperdal) has been Approved for Autism

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Autism (say: aw-tih-zum) causes kids to experience the world differently from the way most other kids do. It's hard for kids with autism to talk with other people and express themselves using words. Kids who have autism usually keep to themselves and many can't communicate without special help.There is no cure for autism, but doctors, therapists, and special teachers can help kids with autism overcome or adjust to many difficulties. The earlier a kid starts treatment for autism, the better.

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Risperidone (Belivon®, Rispen®, Risperdal® in the United States) is an atypical antipsychotic medication is most often used to treat delusional psychosis (including schizophrenia), but risperidone (like other atypical antipsychotics) is also used to treat some forms of bipolar disorder, psychotic depression and Tourette syndrome.Generally lower doses are used for autistic spectrum disorders than are used for schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis; risperidone has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for symptomatic treatment of irritability in autistic children and adolescents.

Risperidone is now the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic medication in the United States.It’s the first approval of a drug for use in treating behavior-related problems associated with autism in children. Classified under the general heading of irritability, these behaviors include aggression, deliberate self-injury, and temper tantrums.

“This approval should benefit many autistic children as well as their parents and other care givers,” says Steven Galson, MD, director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a news release.

Risperdal is an antipsychotic drug that has been approved for use in treating adults with schizophrenia since 1993; it has been approved since 2003 for the short-term treatment of adults with acute manic episodes or episodes with extreme mood swings.

The approval for treating children with autism was based on two eight-week clinical trials that evaluated the drug vs. placebo in 156 children 5 to 16 years old. The results showed that children on Risperdal significantly improved in measures of irritability associated with autism compared with children who received the placebo.

If someone has autism, his or her brain has trouble with an important job: making sense of the world. Every day, your brain interprets the sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations that you experience. If your brain couldn't help you understand these things, you would have trouble functioning, talking, going to school, and doing other everyday stuff. Kids can be mildly affected by autism, so that they only have a little trouble in life, or they can be very affected, so that they need a lot of help.